Thailand has a surplus in energy feeds but a deficit in
protein feeds. As is the case for cattle, which have been promoted by the
government in restructuring of agricultural production systems, a shortage of
hay and pasture for feeding dairy cattle in the dry season is a problem that is
expected to be exacerbated as the number of dairy cattle expands (Sectoral
Economics Program 1995). Rice straw, the main roughage used during the dry
season, is of low quality resulting in a loss in condition by animals receiving
rice straw as the sole nutrient. In the early 1980s, about 23 million tonnes of
rice straw was available for animal feed (Srisunt 1991). Agro-industrial
by-products are an important source of feed for ruminants. Pineapple waste
silage and leaves from baby-corn canning factories have been used for cattle
fattening and on dairy farms. Water scarcity is a problem for the livestock
sector. Farmers do not pay for surface water hence there is no incentive for
farmer to use it efficiently. The livestock industries have experienced problems
obtaining water for animals to drink, for the cleaning of animals and their pens
and for cooling pigs in the summer when it is hot and dry.

The Thai government reduced the import duty on soybean meal
from 10 percent to 5 percent in May 1997 in a bid to help lower production costs
for meat producers. It was hoped that through the lowering of these costs, that
the competitiveness of Thailand's meat exporters in international markets would
be improved. The government has other regulations designed to assist Thailand's
soybean producers. One of these required that feedmilling companies, meat
producers and vegetable oil refineries buy soybeans in the late 1990s at Bt 8.50
per kg at the factory, or at Bt 8 per kg at the farm.

Table 7.1 Wholesale price of animal feed at the Bangkok
market, in Baht per kg

Source: Department of Economics and Trade. Data
from 1966 to 1998 are from Livestock Situation 1998 and Trend of 1999. Data for
1999 are from Livestock Situation 1999 and Trend of 2000

In the dairy industry, most farmers use mixed feed as a
concentrate. This feed is produced in Thailand by large private companies and
then distributed by the dairy cooperatives. With regard to the amount of
concentrate used, a general rule of thumb seems to be that farmers gives each
cow an amount equal to half the quantity of milk produced per milking cow. The
quality of the feed is sometimes uncertain as it is low in energy and protein.
This makes it difficult for animals to recover condition after calving. With
regard to roughage, systematic data are not available. However, the feeding of
30 kg to 40 kg of fresh roughage (stems and leaves) during the rainy season and
unlimited amounts of rice straw during the dry season seems to be a common
practice. Other roughage fed to the animals includes sugar cane tops, and the
dried stems and leaves of peanuts and soybean. It is likely that roughage
requirements of many farms with dairy cattle are inadequate during the dry
season. The important role played by rice as a source of feed means that farmers
with ruminants are likely to select rice varieties for the foliage material that
is produced by the plant, not just the quantity of grain that the plant
yields.

As noted earlier in this paper, producers in the pig industry
follow modern western-style practices. While the commercial feedmills produce
pellet sized broiler feeds and protein supplements, there is a wide range of
on-farm feed produced. Kanto (1991) reports that more than 70 percent of
pig farmers in the country have adopted on-farm feed production ...
(p.343). This seems to have been successful as supervision by premix companies
ensures that the feeds used by these farmers are competitive with those used by
farmers in the feedmill integrated system. Piglets are weaned at 28 days and
require another 140 to 150 days to reach the market weight of approximately 100
to 105 kg. Average performance for the industry is shown in Table 7.2.

Table 7.2 Performance of the pig industry

Growing - Finishing

Breeding

Average daily gain

g/day

650 - 700

Number of litters per year

2 - 2.2

Feed conversion ratio

2.6 - 3.0

Number of piglets per sow per year

18

Lean content

percent

45 - 50

Number of parturitions allowed

6 - 7

Source: Kanto (1991),
p.343

In the broiler industry, birds reach an average weight of 1.8
to 2.0 kg within seven weeks with a feed conversion ratio of 2 to 2.2, depending
on the feed mixture. The birds are fed commercially produced pelleted rations.
In the early 1990s, this form of feed represented about 90 percent of the total
feed used in the broiler industry (Kanto 1991). Different diets have to be used
during hot weather as high-energy rations have led to high mortality
rates.

Broken rice (a by-product of the rice milling process) and
corn are the most popular base ingredients for the poultry industry and the pig
industry. Rice bran makes up no more than 30 percent of pig finishing rations
because of its bulk. Corn produced in tropical countries such as Thailand is
susceptible to bacterial contamination when there is moisture in the atmosphere.
Hence, corn has to be dried to approximately 13 percent moisture as soon as
possible following harvest (Kanto 1991). Sorghum and cassava are being
progressively accepted as substitutes for pig and poultry rations. The main
protein supplements used in the pig and poultry industries are soybean meal and
fishmeal. Peanut meal, sunflower meal and sesame seed are generally used as
substitutes.